L'Hospitalet Tournament: Searching for New TalentJanuary 9, 2005There were some big expectations about this 6-7 point guard who has a place on Unicaja Málaga's first team roster (although he doesn't get any playing time; just practices with them), but who very few people had seen play before.

After watching his games, I have to guess that Pavel Ermolinski doesn't usually practice with the junior team. In the first one, he looked like a loner out there. There wasn't enough understanding between him and his teammates, but as games went by, he looked better and better, more comfortable in the team, more confident and more of a leader.

The final taste was really sweet; he sure is a talented kid. Despite his size, that can make you think otherwise, he's a legit point guard on the offensive end. He has the handles, the court vision, and some quite good decision-making skills both in the half-court offense and in transition.

He can score too. Although he isn't a shooter, his perimeter stroke is pretty solid when he's open enough. He's also a nice slasher, finding his teammates while driving, even when it looks really ugly for him. He still lacks a soft touch when he's finishing a penetration and needs to deliver a long layup or a short shot in motion. He enjoys a very nice ability when we talk about a big-sized guard: he can post up. It's nothing too fancy, just using simple but quite effective movements.

Pavel is a good rebounder too. He had to play power forward and even center on defense given the lack of size on his team, and he was very effective cleaning the boards. His long arms, nice vertical and very good hands were a good help. If you're about to appeal to the poor competition to explain his numbers, I'll tell you that he kept amassing boards against CSKA Moscow in the final.

Back to our perennial concern: it remains to be seen if Pavel is capable of defending point guards. He's fairly athletic and quick, but I'm not sure if he's athletic or quick enough. He might end up as a combo guard. Anyway, he looks like a promising player. [Read Full Article]